On 6-7 December at the National Library in Warsaw, Poland, an international conference of Chopin
experts will take place with the following program. The conference is organized by the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute, directed by Grzegorz Michalski.

Wojciech Nowik: "W poszukiwaniu Chopinowskiej wersji pie∂ni 'Pieszczotka'" [Searching for Chopin's version of the song "Darling"]

Jim Samson: "Chopin's Violin Sonata"

Saturday, 7 December. SESSION 4: FACSIMILE EDITIONS AND NIFC PROGRAMS

Presentation of new programs
of NIFC, including the project, Chopin's Works: Facsimile Edition. This is a complete edition of all available Chopin manuscripts.

CHOPIN AND FRIENDS FESTIVAL IN NEW YORK

Two final events of the 4th International Chopin & Friends Festival took place on
Sunday, November 24th. At 2pm in Weill Recital Hall, Canegie Hall (57th St. & 7th Ave. NYC), three pianists, Polish, Italian and French, presented a program of compositions of Chopin and the composers
that followed Chopin's heritage including Brahms, Schumann, Debussy and Prokofiev.

Nina Kuzma-Sapiejewska - pianist "rare artistry and true virtuoso" Internationally known Polish-American pianist, graduate of the Academy of Music in Gdansk and the Juilliard School in New York, her primary focus is on the romantic repertory. In this concert Nina will present works by Chopin and Schumann.

Michel Bourdoncle - pianist "extraordinary piano virtuoso and superb musician" French pianist, graduated with first prize in piano and chamber music from the Paris and Moscow Conservatories. Laureate of International Competition for Contemporary Music and Liszt International Competition in Utrecht, Holland. Artistic director of International Festival "Les Nuits Pianistiques" in Aix-en-Provence, France. At this gala concert Michel Bourdoncle will present Chopin, Debussy and Prokofiev.
Tickets: $20 Carnegie Charge, tel. 212-247-7800.

On Sunday, November 24th at 7:30pm in Europa Club (98-104 Meserole Ave. in Brooklyn), Elephunk - a powerful Big Band with a strong groove,
dynamic soloists and challenging arrangements. A blend of jazz, funk and Latin.
Guest Artists: Hyonok Kim - avant-garde choreographer and dancer Hyonok Kim is an award winning choreographer and dancer.
She studied the- ater and dance at Seoul Institute of Art and studied modern dance, Martha Graham technique, classic ballet and modern Jazz at the Sorbonne, Paris. Her PH.D is from Universite de Paris, Sorbonne. Among her many honors: the Gold Prize at the Dance on Camera Festival, New York 1992; First Prize at the Spain Teruel International Video Competition in 1991; the Minister of Culture of South Korea Award in 1994. She has performed in 18 countries in Asia, Europe, and North and South America.
Continuation of Open Cycle Exhibition - Curator: Janusz Skowron.
Admission: $10, for students with ID before 8pm is free. Detailed schedule of the festival can be viewed at:
http://www.nydai.org/Progr am/ Program.htm

VII FESTIVAL AND COMPETITION OF JAZZ GUITARISTS

The Seventh Festival and Competition of Jazz Guitarists, named after Marek BliziÒski will take place
between 10 and 16 December in Warsaw, Poland. The Festival program includes the following concerts:

The Celebrity Symphony Orchestra presents another New Year concert at the Living Arts Centre, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
The concert features Vadim Brodski, world-famous violin virtuoso, who won first place in all of the international competitions he entered,
including the Paganini Competition in Italy (1984). Vadim Brodski was born in Kiev (Ukraine), a region famous for
giving birth to such great violinist as David Oistrach and Isaac Stern. In 1981 he moved to Poland,
where he started his international carrier. Since 1985 Mr. Brodski makes his second home in Italy. He plays on a violin by
Gennaro Gagliano, made in 1747. V. Brodskiís repertoire contains over 40 violin concertos from Bach to contemporary music.
He will perform Saint-Saens's Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, along with songs from his most recent recording,
an arrangement of music for violin and orchestra from the legendary The Beatles.

Also performing is Krystyna Pronko a legendary singer from Warsaw, Poland who has sold hundreds of thousands of records,
and is hailed the ìFirst Lady of Polish Jazz.î
Joined by Karolina Ingleton, Canadian rising pop star, and the 45-pieces Celebrity Symphony Orchestra conducted by
charismatic Andrew Rozbicki, Viva Carnival 2003 promises to be an unforgettable evening of classical, jazz, and contemporary music.
Tickets are: $38, $45, $55 at Box Office Living Arts Centre Mississauga. Call (905) 306-6000 or toll-free 1-888 805-8888.

The volume
presents the winners of the 2001 edition of the Wilk Prizes for Research in Polish Music (Essay Competition). The winners, Adrian Thomas
in Professional Category, S≥awomir DobrzaÒski and Katarzyna Grochowska in the Student Category, discuss music from the 17th to the 20th century.
Their texts are accompanied by bibliographies. Judith Rosen's 1983 study of Graøyna Bacewicz, with a foreword by Witold Lutos≥awski
is the featured article, reprinted from Vol. 2 in the Polish Music History Series (out of print). The abstracts of articles and
the table of contents are included below.

The article (awarded the 2001 Wilk Prize in Student Category ex aequo with Grochowska) provides a summary of historical research on possible personal contacts between Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) and Maria Szymanowska (1789-1831).
Although there is no direct evidence of an actual meeting between them, several documents and historical circumstances suggest that both composers must have known
each other personally. The main body of the article is devoted to a comparative analysis of musical styles of both the composers and to the possible influence of Szymanowska's
compositions on Chopin's musical language. Although some of the research is based on previous insights of musicologists such as Maria Iwanejko and George Golos,
the author suggests some new possible comparisons. Especially noteworthy is a brief analysis of the melodic material in Polonaises by Oginski, Szymanowska,
and earliest Polonaises by Chopin. Szymanowska's works discussed in the text include Vingt Exercises et Preludes, Waltzes, Songs, Mazurkas, dances, and 2 Nocturnes

Katarzyna GROCHOWSKA: "From Milan to GdaÒsk: The Story of a Dedication"

This article (awarded the 2001 Wilk Prize in Student Category, ex aequo with Dobrzanski) takes up the task of
explaining the route by which a Gdansk singer, Constantia Czirenberg, became the dedicatee of Milanese publisher Filippo Lomazzo's 1626
motet anthology, Flores Praestantissimorum virorum. The main tools used for this study are the 17th-century travel
diaries and itineraries of Charles Ogier and Prince W≥adys≥aw IV Waza, both friends and admirers of Czirenberg.
While tracing the possible connections between Czirenberg, Lomazzo and W≥adys≥aw IV Waza, the author concludes that it was
the Polish prince who initiated Lomazzo's dedication. This conclusion offers a new perspective on W≥adys≥aw's well-known music patronage,
which this time took place outside the royal court.

Judith ROSEN: "Graøyna Bacewicz: Her Life and Works"

This article is an online reprint of a monograph published in 1983 by the Friends of Polish Music at the University of Southern
California. The monograph, the first book in English about the noted Polish composer, emphasizes the importance of her
place in contemporary music. It discusses her significance as a composer, whose works not only bridged the gap between
neo-romanticism and modernism, but also paved the way for the pursuit of new music by the next generation of composers.
During her brief life (1909-1969) she lived through the eras of pre- and post- World War II with the accompanying musical
freedoms and restrictions. Her musical gifts, both as composer and performer, and her exceptional strength of
character are explored in a discussion of her life. The large quantity and excellence of her compositional
output (in spite of the difficult times in which she lived) are highlighted with quotes from well-known personages and interesting anecdotes. The original monograph included an introduction by Witold Lutos≥awski as well as extensive lists of compositions
and recordings and a selected bibliography. The present edition contains Lutos≥awski's introduction, a different selection of illustrations than in the original edition,
and an updated bibliography by Maja Trochimczyk and James Harley.

Adrian THOMAS: "File750: composers, Politics, and the Festival of Polish Music (1951)"

This article (awarded the 2001 Wilk Prize in Professional Category) is based on a file at the Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw, in which details of the commissioning process for the 1951
Festival of Polish Music are contained. File 750 contains documents and letters to and from composers, who in Spring 1950,
were invited by the Polish Composers' Union to submit proposals to the Ministry of Culture and Art for works to be included in the Festival.
What emerges is an insight into the lives of over 50 Polish composers at a crucial point in the period of "socrealizm."
Composers responded to requests for concert music and music of mass appeal in different ways, giving different reasons for
their requests for subvention by the Ministry. And the Ministry responded by handing out support which ranged from one-off
payments to minor composers to larger amounts spread over several months to more prominent figures.
The responses of two composers - Panufnik and Lutos≥awski - are given special attention because of the new lines of
inquiry their letters provoke. The information they contain - and that gleaned in consequence from other contemporary sources -
is both surprising and controversial. In both cases, subsequent research will require a revised consideration of the composers'
unenviable positions as creative artists in a controlling political context.

The Pilsudski Institute of America for Research in the Modern History of Poland (based on 180 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003-5778)
announces the creation of its new bilinbual web site at www.pilsudski.org

The Pilsudski Institute, located in New York, has passed the half-century mark as a foremost archival and research institution dedicated to the study of Poland and Central Europe. It is the repository of valuable materials and documents on Poland's history in the twentieth century including the period of Solidarity. Outside of Poland, its archives and a library are second only to the Hoover Institution in California in the size and depth of coverage of contemporary Polish history. The Institute's collection of over 200 Polish paintings and objects of art is a significant cultural resource for the understanding and promotion of Polish cultural heritage. The Institute is an independent, non-political, non-profit educational institution (*), beholden to no one, supported by the generosity of its members whose dues, donations and testamentary bequests.

JERZY GABLENZ RADIO BROADCAST

On Monday November 11th at 6:30PM EST tune in to http://cbc.ca/musicforawhile/ (CBC Radio Two) on the internet and listen to a broadcast of Enchanted Lake, Opus 29.

Website: http://home.eol.ca/~dgablenz/

BETTINA SKRZYPCZAK SITE

Polish composer Bettina Skrzypczak, born
1962 in Poznan and living now in Switzerland has a new web site.
You can find all necessary information about her at the website
http://www.bettina-skrzypczak.com, included an English biography and
portrait.

Her music is issued by the music publisher Ricordi (Germany),
Ricordi also will have her first CD being issued in January 2003 (see
information on the recordings page at www.bettina-skrzypczak.com)

CLASSICAL.COM SITE

Classical.com is one of the world's leading online classical music services, offering a large resource of reference material
has a web site at Classical.com. This is a commercial site (subscription) offering listening, downloads,
custom CDs, and a huge resource of entertaining information to expand your classical music
knowledge. http://www.classical.com

Polish pianist Piotr Paleczny, who was a winner in the Chopin
Competition in 1970 and is regarded as Poland's prime pianist
, was the soloist in Chopin's Piano Concerto in e-minor
performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Rzeszow with
Tadeusz Strugala conducting. Music by Kilar ("Orawa") and
Panufnik ("Sinfonia sacra") was also scheduled.

JAZZ OVER THE SAN FESTIVAL

The 14th "Jazz Over the San" river festival held in Przemysl
on the eastern border of Poland featured "Chopin in Jazz."
The Andrzej Jagodzinski Trio was the inaugurating group,
followed by the Abraham Burton Quartet with Steve Davis,
trombone, the Maciej Sikala Quartet and Keith Dunn and Adam
Wendt Friends.

POLISH MUSIC IN UKRAINE

The IVth Festival of Polish Culture was held in four cities
in Ukraine (Kiev, Kharkov, Lviv and Odessa) in November.
According to the Nowy Dziennik 1 Nov issue, the festival is
held every two years beginning in 1996. The orchestra of the
Lviv Opera performed works by Moniuszko, while the Ukraine
Symphony Orchestra of the National Theatre, Opera and Ballet
played Lutoslawski's "Concerto for Orchestra," and the Odessa
Philharmonic presented 20th century Polish composers
Karlowicz, Bacewicz, Gorecki and Kilar.

SILESIAN DAYS IN WESTPHALIA

The National Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio under the
direction of Gabriel Chmura and composer Henryk Mikolaj
Gorecki were featured in this festival in Northern Westphalia, Germany. The cycle of events
was inaugurated in Dusseldorf with Gorecki conducting his
famous Third Symphony.

SLASK IN JAPAN

The Sl±sk Folk Song and Dance Ensemble successfully completed
their first tour of 15 cities in Japan. According to their
tradition of singing one song in the native language of the
country they tour, the group received a standing ovation for
singing the popular folk tune "Szla dzieweczka do laseczka"
in Japanese and also a traditional Japanese song, "Momigi."
Director Stanislaw Hadyna reported that 2000 were in
attendance in Tokyo's largest hall.

MICKIEWICZ PERFORMANCE IN N.Y.

On October 16 the Polish Theatre Institute of New York
presented "Mickiewicz and Lithuania," a staged, costumed 19th
century soiree, celebrating the famous Polish poet Adam
Mickiewicz in English translation with songs set to his
lyrics in Polish by Polish composers Chopin, Paderewski,
Moniuszko and Niewiadomski. Director Nina Polan and Joseph
Culliton were the actors and they were joined by singers
Monika Krajewska, mezzo, and tenor Gregorio Rangel
accompanied by their Music Director Pablo Zinger at the
piano.

POLISH MUSIC IN L.A.

Pianist Alan Feinberg presented a Chopin group in his recital
at Schoenberg Hall, UCLA (7 Nov), while Mark Zeltser also
included the music of Chopin in his recital at Fields' Pianos
(17 Nov).

On the other side of town the Los Angeles Master Chorale
conducted by Grant Gershon presented a program at the new
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, which the director
called "Mystics at the Cathedral." Gorecki's "Amen" was
heard.

Pianist Earl Wild still "thrilling his audiences" as Daniel Cariaga wrote in his review in 19 November issue of the
Los Angeles Times. Cariaga stated that,
at 86, "Pianist Wild retains his wondrous natural touch" in
his recent concert in Pasadena (17 Nov). "He thrilled his
audience of nearly 500 as much as ever...his technical feats,
...take the breath away...for definitive and heart-melting
Chopin...created deeply impressed aural memories."

Distinguished Canadian Chopin pianist, Louis Lortie,
performed an entire Chopin program on October 13 at UCLA's
Schoenberg Hall. He included the 12 Etudes of Opus 10 and 12
of Opus 25, as well as the posthumous Trois Nouvelles
Etudes.

LUTOS£AWSKI COMPETITION IN POLAND

Twenty participants from musical academies in Poland vied for
best national conductor's prizes. Tomasz Tokarczyk, graduate
of the Cracow Academy of Music, won First Prize (a Gold
Violin Key), Wojciech Rodek representing the Music Academy of
Wroclaw took II Prize and Przemyslaw Neumann of Poznan
received the Bronze (III Prize). They are now eligible to
represent Poland in the International Competition that will
take place in Katowice. Boguslaw Madey was chairman of the
jury.

REVIEW OF CRACOW KLEZMER BAND

The Polish Cultural Institute of N.Y. Newsletter recently
published a superb review from the Chicago Tribune written by
Howard Reich. The author praises the Cracow Klezmer Band,
which appeared "in a standing-room only crowd at the Chicago
Cultural Center at the World Music Festival." Mr. Reich
called them "the great find of this year's festival" for they
"dared to view klezmer music not as rowdy entertainment, but
as sublime, high art in an era, which many would-be klezmer
bands, including several in the U.S., exaggerate and
vulgarize klezmer traditions." They regard "this art form as
a concert music to be performed with utmost polish, care and
subtlety." He concluded "of all the ensembles that have
emerged in recent years to explore the meaning of klezmer in
a new era, few have reached as high as the Cracow Klezmer
Band, and fewer still have attained comparable results."
The Polish ensemble includes Jaroslaw Bester, accordion;
Jaroslaw Tyrala, violin; Wojciech Front, bass and Oleg Dyyak
on accordion, clarinet and percussion.

CHOPIN IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Ronald J. Czyz, Jr., programming assistant, at the John Paul
II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C. publicized "Chopin's
Romanticism" a program scheduled for 27 October. Maire-
France Lefebvre, piano and Nathaniel Chaitkin, cello played
Chopin's Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3 and Sonata in G minor,
Op. 65. Music of Schumann and Mendelssohn was also heard. You
can visit the Center's web-site: www.jp2cc.org